Sunday's 1 p.m. matchup between the Eagles and Vikings isn't a referendum on Philadelphia's decision to trade Sam Bradford to Minnesota for a first round pick in September. The entire season is.

But that won't stop the storylines from straying to this fascinating undertone — Bradford knows the Eagles' defense better than anyone else. And the Eagles' defense knows Bradford better than anyone else.

"I think they know the type of athlete that Sam is,the type of quarterback that he is," Doug Pederson said of his defensive unit. "It's hard to get to a guy like Sam —as I mentioned — because he gets the ball out of his hands so fast. And he utilizes the quick game and it's tough to defend sometimes from a pass-rush standpoint."

The Eagles opened up an opportunity for Carson Wentz to play right away while also getting themselves back into the first round (though Minnesota's pick is likely to be somewhere in the late 20s).

The Vikings got a stopgap — and a pretty good one at that — tohelp lead a team with a stellar defense in a march toward a Super Bowl berth.

Bradford is playing better than any other QB in football. So who won the trade so far?

"I think it's been a win-win, honestly," the coach said."In our case, our first-round,second-overall pick getting a chance to play this early; getting his feet wet, learning, putting us in a great spot, a 3-2 [record]. He's played a lot of football. He's getting better every week.And from their standpoint, they got a good quarterback. He went to a playoff caliber football team [at 5-0] with a tremendous defense.